Isospin Asymmetry in Nuclei, Neutron Stars, and Heavy-Ion Collisions

The roles of isospin asymmetry in nuclei and neutron stars are investigated using a range of potential and field-theoretical models of nucleonic matter. The parameters of these models are fixed by fitting the properties of homogeneous bulk matter and closed-shell nuclei. We discuss and unravel the causes of correlations among the neutron skin thickness in heavy nuclei, the pressure of beta-equilibrated matter at a density of 0.1 fm$^{-3}$, and the radii of moderate mass neutron stars. The influence of symmetry energy on observables in heavy-ion collisions is summarized.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures; Proceedings for the 21st Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Breckenridge, Colorado, February 5-12, 2005; To appear in Heavy Ion Physic

Rationalizing Internal Bond and Thickness Swell Test Specimen Size

A criterion for rationalizing internal bond and thickness swell test specimen size of wood composite panels is presented, based on the concept of horizontal density distribution. The criterion utilizes the characteristic curve of the horizontal density variation relative to the specimen size. Using specimen sizes within the less sensitive range of the characteristic curve, stable and less variant internal bond and thickness swell results were obtained. Using this criterion for studying the specimen size effect, an equal specimen size of 100 mm x 100 mm is suggested for the internal bond and thickness swell tests of the commercial waferboard material studied. The criterion is recommended for future testing standard development for internal bond and thickness swell specimen size designations

Chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometer for the in situ measurement of methyl hydrogen peroxide

A new approach for measuring gas-phase methyl hydrogen peroxide [(MHP) CH_3OOH] utilizing chemical ionization mass spectrometry is presented. Tandem mass spectrometry is used to avoid mass interferences that hindered previous attempts to measure atmospheric CH_3OOH with CF_3O− clustering chemistry. CH_3OOH has been successfully measured in situ using this technique during both airborne and ground-based campaigns. The accuracy and precision for the MHP measurement are a function of water vapor mixing ratio. Typical precision at 500 pptv MHP and 100 ppmv H_2O is ±80 pptv (2 sigma) for a 1 s integration period. The accuracy at 100 ppmv H_2O is estimated to be better than ±40%. Chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry shows considerable promise for the determination of in situ atmospheric trace gas mixing ratios where isobaric compounds or mass interferences impede accurate measurements

Halide binding by the purified halorhodopsin chromoprotein. II. New chloride-binding sites revealed by 35Cl NMR

Halorhodopsin is a light-driven chloride pump in the cell membrane of Halobacterium halobium. Recently, a polypeptide of apparent Mr = 20,000 has been purified that contains the halorhodopsin chromophore. Here we use 35Cl NMR to show that the purified chromoprotein possesses two previously unknown classes of chloride-binding sites. One class exhibits a low affinity (KD much greater than 1 M) for chloride and bromide. The second class exhibits a higher affinity (KD = 110 ± 50 mM) for chloride and also binds other anions according to the affinity series I-, SCN- greater than Br-, NO-3 greater than Cl- greater than F- , citrate. Both classes of NMR site remain intact at pH 11, indicating that the essential positive charges are provided by arginine. Also, both classes are unaffected by bleaching, suggesting that the sites are not in the immediate vicinity of the halorhodopsin chromophore. Although the chromoprotein also appears to contain the chloride- transport site (Steiner, M., Oesterhelt, D., Ariki, M., and Lanyi, J. K. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 2179-2184), this site was not detected by 35Cl NMR, suggesting that the transport site is in the interior of the protein where it is sampled slowly by chloride in the medium. It is proposed that the purified chromoprotein possesses a channel leading from the medium to the transport site and that the channel contains the high affinity NMR site which facilitates the migration of chloride between the medium and the transport site. We have also used 35Cl NMR to study chloride binding to purified monomeric bacteriorhodopsin; however, this protein contains no detectable chloride-binding sites

eine Mikrosimulationsanalyse der Aufkommens-, Beschäftigungs- und Verteilungswirkungen für Österreich

Der Beitrag analysiert die Aufkommens-, Beschäftigungs- und Verteilungswirkungen einer Reformalternative zur Entlastung von Arbeitseinkommen und zur Verbesserung der Effizienz des Steuersystems auf der Basis eines Mikrosimulationsmodells. Die Reformalternative beinhaltet einen Ausgleich der „kalten Progression“, eine Reduktion der Grenzsteuersätze und eine Steuervereinfachung bei gleichzeitiger Verbreiterung der Steuerbasis, eine Reform der Grundsicherung sowie verbesserte Arbeitsanreize im unteren Einkommensbereich. Die analysierte Reformalternative wäre trotz zu erwartender positiver Beschäftigungseffekte und nur geringer Umverteilungseffekte mit erheblichen fiskalischen Kosten verbunden. Auf der Basis der ersten Erhebung zur Vermögenslage österreichischer Haushalte, dem Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) wird unter Vernachlässigung möglicher Ausweichreaktionen und zu erwartender Verteilungseffekte gezeigt, in welchem Umfang die fiskalischen Kosten der Reform durch alternative Vermögenssteuermodelle ausgeglichen werden könnten. Als Alternative zu einer Vermögenssteuer werden auch Möglichkeiten der Gegenfinanzierung durch Einsparungen bei den Staatsausgaben dargestellt

Routing Optimization of AVB Streams in TSN Networks

In this paper we are interested in safety-critical real-time applications implemented on distributed architectures using the Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) standard. The ongoing standardization of TSN is an IEEE effort to bring deterministic real-time capabilities into the IEEE 802.1 Ethernet standard supporting safety-critical systems and guaranteed Quality-of-Service. TSN will support Time-Triggered (TT) communication based on schedule tables, Audio-Video-Bridging (AVB) streams with bounded end-to-end latency as well as Best-Effort messages. We consider that we know the topology of the network as well as the routes and schedules of the TT streams. We are interested to determine the routing of the AVB streams such that all frames are schedulable and their worst-case end-to-end delay is minimized. We have proposed a search-space reduction technique and a Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP)-based heuristic for this routing optimization problem. The proposed approaches has been evaluated using several test cases. </jats:p

Design Optimization of Cyber-Physical Distributed Systems using IEEE Time-sensitive Networks (TSN)

In this paper we are interested in safety-critical real-time applications implemented on distributed architectures supporting the Time-SensitiveNetworking (TSN) standard. The ongoing standardization of TSN is an IEEE effort to bring deterministic real-time capabilities into the IEEE 802.1 Ethernet standard supporting safety-critical systems and guaranteed Quality-of-Service. TSN will support Time-Triggered (TT) communication based on schedule tables, Audio-Video-Bridging (AVB) flows with bounded end-to-end latency as well as Best-Effort messages. We first present a survey of research related to the optimization of distributed cyber-physical systems using real-time Ethernet for communication. Then, we formulate two novel optimization problems related to the scheduling and routing of TT and AVB traffic in TSN. Thus, we consider that we know the topology of the network as well as the set of TT and AVB flows. We are interested to determine the routing of both TT and AVB flows as well as the scheduling of the TT flows such that all frames are schedulable and the AVB worst-case end-to-end delay is minimized. We have proposed an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) formulation for the scheduling problem and a Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP)-based heuristic for the routing problem. The proposed approaches have been evaluated using several test cases

Allostatic load is associated with positive symptoms in schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis and decreases with antipsychotic therapy

Background: Current pathophysiological models of schizophrenia suggest that stress contributes to the etiology and trajectory of the disorder. We investigated whether cumulative exposure to stress, quantified by allostatic load (AL), an integrative index of immune, metabolic, and neuroendocrine dysregulation, is elevated in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and first-episode psychosis (FEP) and related to psychotic symptoms and social and occupational functioning and assessed the temporal dynamics of AL in response to treatment with second-generation antipsychotics. Methods: We assessed AL in a naturalistic study of unmedicated patients with SCZ (n = 28), FEP (n = 28), and healthy controls matched for age and gender (n = 53) at baseline and 6 and 12 weeks after commencement of antipsychotic therapy. Biomarkers for the AL index were selected based on (1) representation of several physiological systems including the cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, immune, and metabolic systems; (2) use in previous AL research; and (3) associations with disease risk. We adopted a scaled AL algorithm whereby each marker proportionally contributes to the overall AL index. Unadjusted and adjusted differences between patients with SCZ, FEP, and controls in AL were tested with ANCOVA, and partial correlations were used to test associations of AL with psychometric variables. Results: AL was higher in patients with SCZ compared to controls (4.91 ± 1.89 vs. 2.87 ± 1.62, P < .001), patients with FEP compared to controls (3.80 ± 1.66 vs. 2.87 ± 1.62, P = .020) but not different between patients with SCZ and patients with FEP (P = .302). Adjusting for age and smoking, we found that positive symptoms were positively correlated with AL across all patients with a psychotic disorder (adjusted R = .520, P < .001) and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores were negatively correlated with AL at trend level (adjusted R = −.251, P = .070). No significant associations were found for negative symptoms (P = .582). AL decreased after treatment with olanzapine, risperidone, or quetiapine was commenced in patients with SCZ and FEP between the baseline assessment and the 6- and 12-week follow-up. Conclusion: Our data provide evidence for cumulative physiological dysregulation in patients with SCZ and FEP that is linked to the experience of current positive psychotic symptoms. AL could be a useful model that takes stress, long-term adaptation, and its failures into account to further understand the pathophysiology of schizophrenia